Improvement in magazine fire-arms



G. F. EVANS.l Magazine Fire-Arm.

No. 207,350. Patenfted Aug. 27,1878.

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NFETERS, PHOTo-LITHUGRAPHER. WASHINGTON. D C. V

UNITED STATES GEORGE E. Evans, on roLAND, MAiNE.

IMPROVEMENT IN MAGAZINE FIRE-ARMS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 207,350, dated August 2T, 1878; application tiled May 13, 1878.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE F. EVANS, of Poland, county of Androscoggin, State of Maine, ain the inventor of Improvements in Magazine-Guns, of which the following is a' vspeciiication, reference being had to the accompanyin g drawings, in which- Figure l is a vertical central section of a portion of the gun-stock and the rear end or.

`breech-are concerned, toFig. 1, showing the working parts ofthe gun contained in the stock. Fig. 4 is a view Yof the rear end of the breechbolt and a cross-section of the magazine. Fig. 5 is an enlarged view of the face of the forward end of the breech-bolt. Fig. Gis a perspective view of the forward end of the breech-bolt. Fig. 7 is a side view of a notched bolt, the office of which is explained hereinafter. Fig. 8 is a section of a detached piece of the breechbolt out on line a: y, Fig. 5, showing thedevice for cjecting the cartridge 5 and Fig. 9 is a cross-section eut through on line z z, Fig. 3.

My invention relates to a magazine needlegun; and consists in the devices and combi- :nations of devices hereinafter described and claimed, whereby the sliding breech-bolt containing the ring pin or needle is made to operate the fluted shaft carrying the cartridges in the magazine; also, those whereby the operation of the said shaft may be prevented while the said bolt is moved, thereby converting at pleasure the arm into a hand breech-loader; also,

those whereby the danger of'iiring the car-v trid ge by the closing of the breech is obviated also, those whereby the cartridge-shell is withdrawn from the barrel and ejected.

A is the stock, within which is the magazine. B is the barrel. C is a chamber, within which slides the horizontally-sliding breechbolt D. E is the firing-pin, operated by spring d. b is the trigger, pivoted on the gun-stock, on the upper side thereof, and pressed into engagement with a notch, e, in the firing-pin by spring b', as seen in Fig. 3.

The magazine, including the iiuted cylinder and the spiral guide, is similar to that described and claimed in Letters Patent No. 84,685, issued to Varren- It. Evans, December 8,1868.

c is a lever, pivoted at c1, whereby the iuted cylinder F is rotated. It is provided with a groove, c2, in which a lug or projection, c3, on the bolt D works. When the said bolt is drawn i back the forward end of said lever is thrown down by the action of the projection c3 in the groove c2. The said lever on the forward end has a lip, c4, which engages the radial ribs d Il d2 d3 of the iiuted cylinder F, so as to rotate the cylinder one quarter-turn at each operation of closing and opening the breech of the gun by sliding the bolt D backward and forward. rEhe axis of the bolt D is not coincident with that of the barrel B, being somewhat above it, and the circular plane portion of the face of the forward end of the bolt D, which covers and closes the breech of the barrel, and which is designated by the letter e, Fig. 6, is not in the center of said face, but on one side of same, as shown in said figure. The remaining portion, el, of said face is beveled back, as shown. rlhe said bolt is so arranged with reference to the barrel that when the bolt is slid forward in the act of closing the gun the face c does not strike the cartridge-head fully, but only on one side of the same. Then, by rotating the said bolt, in the act of locking the same in place, the said face e swings around over the breech of the barrel, closing it. By this means the danger of exploding the cartridge by the blt D strikoing against the eartridge in closing the gun is obviated.

f f1 f2 f3 are segmental ribs or lugs on the bolt D, which take into corresponding grooves in the housing, whereby the bolt is locked in position for closing the gun, as seen in Fig. 2.

gis the extractor, being a lever pivoted at g1 in a longitudinal slot in the bolt D. AAt the forward end is a hook, g2, which engages the head of the cartridge. as seen in Fig. 3, to eX- tract the same when the iirin g-pin E is thrown forward to fire the cartridge. The enlarged rear portion of said pin passes under the projection g4 on said extractor, and locks the hook g2 onto the cartridge. his an ejector, the office of which is to throw the exploded shell out of the gun when it has been drawn out of the barrel by the extractor. It is a small shaft working in a chamber or recess in the breechblock, pressed outward by a spring, i, and having an offset or arm, il, at its forward end to fit over the flange of the cartridge-head. Its motion is limited by a pin, 2, working in a slot 3.

The action of the extractor and ejector is as follows: When the bolt D is pushed forward to close the gun the extractor-hook slides over and engages the cartridge-head, and the ejector h is forced back against the spring t'. Then, when the bolt D is slid back in the act of opening the gun, the cartridge-shell is drawn back with it, the ejector meantime pressing against the cartridge-head at its lower edge, tending to push such lower edge away from the face of the bolt and tip upward the forward end of the cartridge-shell, but which cannot, of course7 be so tipped upward so long as the shell is in the barrel. As soon, however, as the shell is drawn clear of the barrel, the ejector flies out and throws the cartridge-shell/ clear from the gun.

7c is a pin, which is inserted in a hole made transversely through the stock just below the chamber C, so that about one-half or one-thi rd of the body of the said pin projects into the said chamber. It has, however, a curved notch, k', on its upper` side, so arranged that when the pin is in position to bring this notch central in the chamber the chamber is left clear for the bolt D to slide in it unobstructed by the said pin; but when the pin is shifted so as to bring the cylindrical part of its shaft into the chamber, the bolt D is stopped in its outward movement by a shoulder on the bolt, near its forward end, encountering the pin. The bolt is thus stopped before it reaches the point where the lever c is brought into action, thus preventing'the rotating of the fluted cylinder F and the delivery of cartridges from the magazine.

By these means the gun may be loaded by hand and discharged as an ordinary hand-loading breech-loader.

l What I claim, and desire to secure by Let ters Patent, is

1. The combination, ina breech-loadin g gun, of the magazine described, the barrel, and the sliding breech-bolt, the fluted cylinder F being located with its axis below the axis of the barrel, so that the said bolt in sliding forward toward the breech of the barrel passes through the upper groove or flute of the said cylinder, thereby carrying a cartridge from such upper groove or flute into the barrel in the act of loading.

2. Inabreech-loading gun, the combination of a longitudinally-sliding breech-bolt, a eartridge-magazine., and a lever, c, whereby the lint-ed cylinder F is rotated, as described.

3. ln a breech-loadin g gun, a longitudinallysliding breech-bolt containing the firing-pin, the face of its forward end being formed with beveled or incline face e1 and plane face c, eccentric to the axis of the bolt, combined with the barrel, as and for the purpose described.

4. The combination, in abreech-loadin g 1n agvazine-gun, of the breech-bolt D, the cylinder F, the lever c, and the shaft or pin 7c, as and for the purpose described.

Vitness my hand this 8th day of May, 1878.

GEORGE F. EVANS. Witnesses:

ANsEL S. DYER, FRANK A. Boerner. 

